Sophomore Runner Helps Lift Profile Of UConn's Track Squad

STORRS — — Early in one of their first conversations, UConn cross country coach Andrea Grove-McDonough laid it all out for Lindsay Crevoiserat.

"I told her, 'You could go anywhere you want and be part of history or you could come here and make history,'" Grove-McDonough said last month.

Crevoiserat chose the latter.

She wanted to help her coach; she wanted to help UConn.

This past cross country season, Crevoiserat, the Glastonbury High School running standout who turned down offers from some of the best running programs in the country, has made good on her commitment.

She has helped turned the UConn distance team into a national presence.

"[Crevoiserat] has really been the catalyst in a lot of ways," Grove-McDonough said.

In November, Crevoiserat, a sophomore, led the Huskies to an eighth-place finish in their first NCAA championship with a time of 20:18.7 for 42nd place over the 3.728-mile course. Stratford's Lauren Sara finished 66th as the Huskies' second runner.

This indoor track season, in which Grove-McDonough is an assistant as the team's distance coach, Crevoiserat and the Huskies are hoping to continue making history.

Led by Crevoiserat, UConn's distance medley team is one of the best in the country.

The Huskies finished eighth last year in the NCAA championships and have the ability to be among the top three this season.

"There are tons of girls on the cross country team that have so much to prove right now and are waiting to get on the track," Crevoiserat said.

So far the indoor season has gone quite well for Crevoiserat. On Friday, she ran 15:58.47 in the 5,000 meters at the Boston University Terrier Invite for the fourth-fastest time this season in the event.

Barely five years ago, the idea of being one of the best distance teams in the Big East, let alone the country, wasn't even a possibility in Storrs. The Huskies just didn't have the pieces.

Grove-McDonough, now in her fifth year with UConn, can remember coming home after a back-of-the-pack finish in a Big East championship conference meet in cross country and the team's being satisfied.

"Frankly, it was so bad," Grove-McDonough said. "I remember thinking this wasn't right."

Grove-McDonough, who came to UConn after a professional career in Canada, was not here to feel good about mediocre results. She wanted to win and produce quality runners.

So Grove-McDonough — a native of Winnipeg, a former runner at Minnesota and an assistant at the University of Montana — went to work. She adapted different running plans for each athlete, worked hard to get the top recruits from Connecticut and New England, and brought a fire that the runners could appreciate.

"She was really good at convincing everyone that she was going to make something happen," Sara said.

It has worked for Crevoiserat, who finished ninth in the 3,000 meters at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, with a personal best of 9:21.88.

"I kind of put my faith in her," Crevoiserat said. "I think I clicked with Coach McDonough and this team the best. I trusted her."

Under Grove-McDonough's leadership, the distance team has gone from its first ranking in the national poll to its first NCAA championship appearance in cross country.

"I said I would come here and build it and I meant it," Grove-McDonough said.

That commitment has certainly caught the eye of local runners.

This past year, the Huskies tried to get one of the biggest recruiting prizes in New England in Sarah Gillespie of Northwest Catholic-West Hartford. But the record-breaking high school senior, who is a top miler, eventually decided on Harvard.

Still, the Huskies were in the race.

And with Grove-McDonough and Crevoiserat leading the way, it isn't likely that they're going to leave it any time soon.

"I think we're going to keep making history and keep proving to ourselves that we're one of the top 10 teams in the country," Crevoiserat said.